Alstom was awarded a contract by Chengdu Metro Corp. Ltd. to supply the traction systems for 496 metro cars to circulate on Line 5, the city’s new metro line. The contract is worth approximately $68.3 million. The line is expected to start revenue service by the end of 2019.

When it opens, Chengdu Line 5 will be approximately 30 miles and have 41 stations. It will connect the city’s six districts from the north to the south, and will be a high capacity line, with an eight-car type A configuration, for the first time in Chengdu. As part of the contract, Alstom will be supplying its OptONIX metro traction system, specifically designed and developed for the Chinese market. This includes traction inverters, motors, and auxiliary converters. It is designed to improve operational performance and reduce lifecycle costs by using regenerative electrical braking.

All traction systems will be manufactured jointly by Alstom’s joint venture Shanghai Alstom Transport Electrical Equipment Co. Ltd. (SATEE) and Chengdu Alstom Transport Electrical Equipment Co. Ltd. (CATEE), with support from Xi’an Alstom Yongji Electric Equipment Co. and four Alstom sites in Europe.

Alstom has supplied traction systems for 750 metro cars of Chengdu metro line 3 and 4 via its JV SATEE. By winning this contract, SATEE reaches orders for manufacturing traction systems for over 1,000 metro trainsets for 28 lines in China and abroad. Building on this milestone, SATEE signed at the beginning of 2017 a cooperation agreement with Xinjin County People’s Government, and opened a subsidiary in Chengdu, CATEE, to manufacture traction systems for urban transport solutions.